Walking the Camino with Pat. Was it a mistake? I was mulling over this question as I ducked out of the little bed and breakfast early. Today was going to be a 'big' day and I hadn't slept well. I needed a strong coffee from the cafe nearby..... The coffee was just...
Tomas had a profound impact on me.
But Sharing Camino friends might not always work
If you’ve been in relationship for a long time, you probably have your own friends as well as mutual friends. And your friends are probably quite different from your partner’s friends. …
I’m sure the same happens on the Camino. You ‘click’ with others of a certain type.
But what if you walked your first Camino alone. And your second with your ‘life partner’? And along the way you dropped in to visit a really good friend. This happened to me last month.
Would Pat like him? Or just think he was some ancient weirdo that she could not really engage with? That was my dilemma.
But I took a chance. And a degree of risk. After all, introducing those with whom we have formed strong bonds, is really a reflection of us too, isn’t it?
For the sake of telling the story I will change names and places to avoid hordes of people seeking out Tomas. I’m not sure he would appreciate all the attention.
I met him during my first Camino last year. I walked a very slow Camino. I mean really slow.
It took me 40 days to get from St Jean to Santiago. And even then I had to jump forward a day to make up time.
It seemed like a great idea, but the descent into Zubiri in the pouring rain really tested the relationship……….
Even though I’d known my walking companion for years.
He’s a really interesting character with an unpronounceable Chinese name, so he goes by the nickname ‘Bean’. Originally from China, he’d moved to Thailand where we first met and he now lives in Sydney, my home town.
We did training walks together. And were Camino ‘buddies’ from the outset.
We were going to spend 40 days together, and looked forward to the experience and the bonding.
The long flight, the stopover in Paris and journey to St Jean were all without incident. No hint of the strains that our relationship would be under at times. We just enjoyed the journey and the anticipation of getting underway.
Mind you, ‘Bean’ is the quiet type and it’s hard to know what he’s thinking at times. Most of the time in fact!
Maybe I should have sensed this was not going to be an easy journey, on Day 1?
It started to fall apart on the Camino Frances - Why? We were full of excitement on that first day out of St Jean. It was our first time and so everything was new and just amazing. The landscape, the other Pilgrims, and oh, did I mention the landscape!Reg, Len and I...
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